It was growing dark and men were scurrying around during the intermission to light all the torches. The outdoor theater sat on the edge of Egjora abutting the sea. It was a stage and a series of walls besides it, where all the stagehands could hide props and actors could take breaks when not on the set. It was here that a group had been paid to perform a play of their choosing. The director of the group had chosen a play of his own to perform to the people. It was a love story about a man who goes to save his bride from death itself. "how bland an unoriginal, surely the director lacks any real creativity or talent". The Virtuoso always a critic of other performers had been none to impressed with the show thus far.

This was his fourth time seeing this play. The other times had been for planning and rehearsal of his own show. Tonight however was opening night and he was gonna put on a killer show. The Virtuoso sat on the far left side of the theater, near the front. Close to the action but far enough away so as not to draw attention to himself. As the play had gone on he had felt a bit of nervousness appear at the bottom at his stomach and work his way up. This happened before every time he made one of his masterpieces. Whether it was a shred of a conscience, or maybe it was because of the thrill of the performance not even he knew. What he did know is that it was time.

The Virtuoso stood up and began to creep his way towards an entrance behind the stage. It was lightly guarded with only a single man watching the door. He put on his mask, it was time to begin the show. He walked up to the guard Who blocked his path. "Hold up who are you?" The man asked The Virtuoso. "Why me, I'm simply an understudy for death" the guard none to interested in the play let The Virtuoso in. So the man in the mask walked in and made his way towards the stage. Now all he had to do was wait for his cue and then it would begin.

It arrived in the final confrontation between the man and death. As the two met The Virtuoso walked out on stage and threw a throwing knife at death. Which landed in his back with a resounding thud. The actors were horrified, while most of the audience who had never seen the play thought it was just part of the show. "This stage is beneath my talent, but I shall elevate it" The Virtuoso shouted as he made his way towards center stage pulling out two daggers.

Since her deification, travel had become much less tedious for Dalanesca.  She, of course, was able to simply disappear and reappear wherever she liked at her own will - but truth be told, she absolutely hated that.  She preferred regular methods of travel - foot, horseback, boat, carriage… anything that still kept normalcy for her.  This was the reason she had chosen to take a boat to Egjora for her visit there.

The joy of her new position was that she appeared as a mortal to those around her.  She did not favor magic, and she had never quite abandoned the manner of dress that she had always followed.  This allowed her to enjoy entertainment without disruption, and that was what she had travelled to Egjora for.  There had been announcement on the mainland of Adeluna that a play was to be staged, and though the story seemed rather cliche, Dalanesca had always been one to enjoy live theatre.  

She had secured herself a seat not far from the stage, as she did like to be close to the action as it were.  The show seemed to be going just fine, running a cliched line as most romantic tragedies seemed to follow.  After a moment, she saw a man in the crowd beginning to make his way to the stage, completely unnoticed by the other attendees.  She watched him with interest for a moment, allowing her mind to unravel the events that were to unfold.  Darkness covered her thoughts, indicating that the individual certainly did not have pure intentions - though at the core she could sense a white light.  The individual’s actions were not going to be pure, but his  intentions actually were.  It was interesting, and not something she saw too often.  

While the play itself had been quite interesting, she was sure that the events that were going to unfold were going to be far more of a show.  She watched in interest, and only mild surprise, as a dagger had now landed itself square in the back of the man portraying Death.  

Dalanesca stood up abruptly as she saw the man advancing towards center stage, withdrawing two more weapons.  Everything froze, the people around them frozen in shadowy states of shock and awe.  The man on stage was not frozen in stasis as the rest, and Dalanesca advanced towards him.  Slowly, she clapped her hands as she advanced.  “Bravo,” she said, her voice quiet and low.  “It seems to me,” she said as she slowly advanced onto the stage towards the man.  “That you have come here for a certain reason… your talent,” she said, quirking an eyebrow.

“Tell me - what are you hoping to create here?” She asked, eyeing the man with pure curiosity.  

The Virtuoso turned towards the crowd and bowed before going back to death to retrieve his knife. It was then that The Virtuoso realized someone in the audience was questioning him. Death didn't look like he was going anywhere but the other two on stage well that was another story. So before turning to the audience he pulled two more throwing knifes out of his belt and threw them at the other two actors on stage. Each knife buried itself into the leg of the actors. Even if they managed to remove the knives they had been covered in a poison that caused paralysis in the area where it entered the body. Moving downstage towards the audience The Virtuoso looked towards the woman talking to him.

It was quite uncommon for someone to strike up a conversation with The Virtuoso while he was working. Though this woman appeared to not be the least bit squeamish. Though before he could respond to her query the woman on the stage shouted at her "What talent! He's a demon sent to kill all things good in this world"! The Virtuoso glared back at the young woman "You only understand harmony. Discord is required for contrast". Turning back towards the woman standing in the audience who by now were in a bit of a panic. As they had finally realized this wasn't part of the show. "Yes I've come to show these people what true art is". The Virtuoso's voice was not what one would expect of a so called demon; it was rather soft and he rarely raised the volume of it. After pausing for a moment he added "The best artists require practice to hone their craft. So if I wish to perfect my art I must perform" adding a bit of a dramatic flare after saying perform.

The second question gave The Virtuoso pause. "I will make them beautiful, I will make them perfect". The details of his performances had always been a bit vague. The Virtuoso could do as much planning as he wanted but the art happened in the spur of the moment. He then lowered his voice close to a whisper and said "This art is a compulsion I cannot resist it". With that he turned back to the task at hand. Which was to begin with the end, death. Walking back over to the man who was slouched over on the ground hyperventilating. The Virtuoso pulled out one of his daggers. It was rather ornate being made of silver with a gold trim. The Virtuoso stabbed the man in both of his eyes before finishing him off with a stab straight through the skull. After removing his dagger a thorns began to sprout from his wounds. These thorns quickly bloomed into black roses.

At the present moment, Dalanesca cared not for the dramatic reactions of the crowd.  In her domain she had come to realize that in order for good to exist in the world, there must also be evil - and though some would view what this man in front of her was doing as a heinous act of treachery, she viewed it as a neutralizer.  What he was doing was helping to create balance in the world, in some twisted way.  “Sometimes, good things need to be killed just as much as bad things,” she said, her voice maintaining its low intonation.  The woman that had called out in anger was silenced as Dalanesca looked directly at her, willing her mind to understand the words that the Justiciar spoke.

Her gaze cast out among the rest of the crowd, willing their minds to accept the scene before them, as well.  She turned back to the man before her, still mildly unsure of what he was or who he was, but she had no worry - the man could not harm her even if he wished to.  

She eventually reached the stage and stepped up just as the man began to stab out the eyes of his more recent victim, watching his reaction in wonderment.  It seemed as though the violent act was beautiful in the other’s eyes, and she could not quite wrap her head around why.

“I of all people understand that killing is necessary at times, but you view it as one would view a priceless painting.  Tell me…what do you see?” she asked.  She was genuinely perplexed by this character.  He seemed to function on an entirely different level than any other murderer that Dalanesca had come across in her time.